Episodes

  • Lebanon looks forward

    Lebanon looks forward
    Mar 18 2025
    Arab Digest editor William Law's guest this week is the Levant expert Dr Lina Khatib. Their conversation focusses on new hope building in Lebanon after the crushing blow Israel delivered to Hezbollah and the collapse of the Assad regime in Syria. With a new president and a new prime minister in place hope is running high that the country will find the political will to move away from the sectarianism that has inflicted so much damage on the Lebanese people. Sign up NOW at ArabDigest.org for free to join the club and start receiving our daily newsletter & weekly podcasts.
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    30 mins
  • Syria in a dangerous time

    Syria in a dangerous time
    Mar 11 2025
    Syria expert Malik al-Abdeh joins Arab Digest editor William Law to discuss the latest developments in Syria as the country's new leadership struggles with internal sectarian rivalries and pressures from outside players in the neighbourhood including Israel and Türkiye. They explore too the role of Putin and Trump and what will happen as Washington pursues an isolationist approach to foreign relations. Sign up NOW at ArabDigest.org for free to join the club and start receiving our daily newsletter & weekly podcasts.
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    33 mins
  • Assad is gone, Captagon hangs on

    Assad is gone, Captagon hangs on
    Mar 5 2025
    Arab Digest editor William Law's guest this week is the New Lines Institute's Caroline Rose an expert on the illicit drug Captagon. With the fall of Bashar al-Assad his family's hold on the lucrative trade has suddenly evaporated but the drug hasn't disappeared from Syria and other actors and other countries are eying up opportunities as the Trump administration freezes US engagements in the global fight against illicit drugs. Sign up NOW at ArabDigest.org for free to join the club and start receiving our daily newsletter & weekly podcasts.
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    29 mins
  • A small town in Lebanon

    A small town in Lebanon
    Feb 25 2025
    Arab Digest editor William Law welcomes George Kanaan to this week's podcast. His book Beyond Lebanon's Peaks: An Odyssey is a fascinating memoir of a businessman and banker who though he has travelled the world in a storied career has never left behind Suq el-Gharb and his Levantine roots. In a wide ranging conversation he reflects on the book and on the current situation in Lebanon and what he calls Trump's 'cruel idea' for Gaza. Sign up NOW at ArabDigest.org for free to join the club and start receiving our daily newsletter & weekly podcasts.
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    33 mins
  • Morocco's economic express

    Morocco's economic express
    Feb 19 2025
    In this week's podcast Arab Digest editor William Law is joined by the North Africa expert Francis Ghilès to discuss the reasons why the Moroccan economy is in good health while its Maghreb neighbours Algeria and Tunisia are struggling. Part of the answer is its geography: Morocco sits as a linchpin between Europe and Africa. The rest though has to do with strong macroeconomic policies and a resilient, confident and outward looking approach from the kingdom's business sector. Sign up NOW at ArabDigest.org for free to join the club and start receiving our daily newsletter & weekly podcasts.
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    31 mins
  • The Gulf's Islam rebrand

    The Gulf's Islam rebrand
    Feb 12 2025
    William Law, Arab Digest editor welcomes the Cato Institute's Jon Hoffman to the podcast to discuss his just released book Islam and Statecraft. Jon lays out how the Gulf ruling families have used Islam as a political tool to enhance foreign policy thrusts, ensure regime security and project power. With the West embracing the Gulf's so-called "moderate Islam" and Donald Trump in the White House Islamophobia, he argues, is set to rise. Sign up NOW at ArabDigest.org for free to join the club and start receiving our daily newsletter & weekly podcasts.
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    30 mins
  • Refugee crises in the Levant

    Refugee crises in the Levant
    Feb 5 2025
    Arab Digest editor William Law's guest this week is the European Council on Foreign Relations' Kelly Petillo. While the world is fixated on Trump and tariffs the refugee crisis in the Middle East gathers pace as Europe pushes to remove Syrian refugees under the assumption that now that Assad is gone Syria is safe. Meanwhile President Trump muses on relocating Palestinians to Egypt and Jordan, in other words an ethnic cleansing that Israel is eager to embrace. Sign up NOW at ArabDigest.org for free to join the club and start receiving our daily newsletter & weekly podcasts.
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    33 mins
  • Yemen: the Huthis and Al Qaeda

    Yemen: the Huthis and Al Qaeda
    Jan 29 2025
    Arab Digest editor William Law's guest this week is the jihadist extremism expert Dr Elisabeth Kendall. Their conversation focuses on Yemen's Huthis and Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP.) Both have benefitted from the Gaza war in terms of popular support and propaganda messaging while a peace deal to end the nearly ten years of civil war slips further and further away. Sign up NOW at ArabDigest.org for free to join the club and start receiving our daily newsletter & weekly podcasts.
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    31 mins
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